the wrong side of the bed
Friday, April 30, 2004
little girls, little girls, everywhere i go i see them
i have a girl scout troop with 2 friends of mine. today was HORRIBLE. one of the girl's has a brother that sometimes shows up. i guess he is about 7 or 8. today they drove him crying from the room. i understand that they might not want boys there. i mean, it is girl scouts, but the kid is really sweet and doesn't disrupt or anything. anyway, i asked the boy if he might not rather go to boy scouts which meets downstairs at the same time. he say that he wasn't sure that the boy scout leader was there today. i took him downstairs to check out the situation. i found the leader and took him in the hall to ask if the boy could join the troop. turns out that he is in the troop. he just doesn't always show up. i guess those are the times he is with us.
i left the boy with the scout leader and turned around to go upstairs. before i even made it to the stairwell, the boy darted past me to hide behind the vending machines and cry. i asked him why. some other boy called him a scairdy-cat. i wanted to say, "well, going to cry in the arms of a GIRL SCOUT LEADER is probably not going to help your reputation..." instead i told him that if he wasn't really a scairdy-cat, then it didn't matter what some other boy said. i also told him that it was okay to be scared and that even adults get scared sometime. he told me he thought that he could go back in with the other boys. i turned around to go upstairs, by the time i had reached the top of the stairs, the kid was running after me and crying again. i ended up letting him sit in the corner coloring. i gave him posterboard and some crayons. it was sort of cute because he acted so surprised to be given crayons to use. he said, "wow! crayons!!!" liz and michelle and i decided to pretend that he is gay and to just let him come to our troop from now on. he's a quiet kid and he doesn't really take too much of our time away from the girls.
we had another problem with our troop today. one of the girls has a two year old brother who has started showing up at our meetings. since our troop is in a community center at the apartment complex where the kids live, their parents don't drop them off or anything. they just decide to come and show up of their own accord. suddenly, we have found ourselves saddled with a toddler. today, the older girls were totally manhandling the toddler. it was terrifying. one girl almost dropped him once. michelle had to take him away. at that point she realized he really needed a new diaper. of course, his sister, who is all of 8 years old, hadn't thought to bring a diaper bag. so, michelle was going to take him home. she was going to put him in his stroller, but as she was doing it, an older girl came and snatched him away. somehow, the toddler ended up crying on the floor, terrified, with three girls leaning in menacingly from above. i shouted, "everyone get away from him NOW!" and the girls stepped back. i took him home with the aid of his sister and the other boy. his mother didn't even care when the kids took him in. i started to walk away, but i went back and told her, "i brought him home because the girls were being rough." she didn't really seem to care. i left, but i really wanted to yell at her.
after the meeting was over, michelle, liz, and i were near tears. why were our girls so mean today? it was terrible! plus, more than once they asked us if we planned on coming back. it wasn't clear why. liz said she wanted to say, "we don't like you anymore. we won't come back unless you start acting better." i wanted to say the same thing. michelle wants us to take a parenting class from GHC to learn how to deal with discipling kids. i really think we should do it.
some of our girls used to be so sweet. we only see them on fridays. is this just what it is like to watch a kid be ruined by middle school through the magic of time-lapse photography?
liz, michelle, and i are planning to see "mean girls" this sunday. i think it is only fitting. our girls aren't that old, but they will be some day. we better prepare ourselves while we can.
i left the boy with the scout leader and turned around to go upstairs. before i even made it to the stairwell, the boy darted past me to hide behind the vending machines and cry. i asked him why. some other boy called him a scairdy-cat. i wanted to say, "well, going to cry in the arms of a GIRL SCOUT LEADER is probably not going to help your reputation..." instead i told him that if he wasn't really a scairdy-cat, then it didn't matter what some other boy said. i also told him that it was okay to be scared and that even adults get scared sometime. he told me he thought that he could go back in with the other boys. i turned around to go upstairs, by the time i had reached the top of the stairs, the kid was running after me and crying again. i ended up letting him sit in the corner coloring. i gave him posterboard and some crayons. it was sort of cute because he acted so surprised to be given crayons to use. he said, "wow! crayons!!!" liz and michelle and i decided to pretend that he is gay and to just let him come to our troop from now on. he's a quiet kid and he doesn't really take too much of our time away from the girls.
we had another problem with our troop today. one of the girls has a two year old brother who has started showing up at our meetings. since our troop is in a community center at the apartment complex where the kids live, their parents don't drop them off or anything. they just decide to come and show up of their own accord. suddenly, we have found ourselves saddled with a toddler. today, the older girls were totally manhandling the toddler. it was terrifying. one girl almost dropped him once. michelle had to take him away. at that point she realized he really needed a new diaper. of course, his sister, who is all of 8 years old, hadn't thought to bring a diaper bag. so, michelle was going to take him home. she was going to put him in his stroller, but as she was doing it, an older girl came and snatched him away. somehow, the toddler ended up crying on the floor, terrified, with three girls leaning in menacingly from above. i shouted, "everyone get away from him NOW!" and the girls stepped back. i took him home with the aid of his sister and the other boy. his mother didn't even care when the kids took him in. i started to walk away, but i went back and told her, "i brought him home because the girls were being rough." she didn't really seem to care. i left, but i really wanted to yell at her.
after the meeting was over, michelle, liz, and i were near tears. why were our girls so mean today? it was terrible! plus, more than once they asked us if we planned on coming back. it wasn't clear why. liz said she wanted to say, "we don't like you anymore. we won't come back unless you start acting better." i wanted to say the same thing. michelle wants us to take a parenting class from GHC to learn how to deal with discipling kids. i really think we should do it.
some of our girls used to be so sweet. we only see them on fridays. is this just what it is like to watch a kid be ruined by middle school through the magic of time-lapse photography?
liz, michelle, and i are planning to see "mean girls" this sunday. i think it is only fitting. our girls aren't that old, but they will be some day. we better prepare ourselves while we can.
11:38 PM
